Inside Pep Guardiola's bust-up with Raheem Sterling at Man City with winger left 'livid' after being dropped amid Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva praise

Sterling had been one of the best players for Manchester City under Guardiola in his first four seasons in charge of the Manchester-based club as the Spaniard led City to three Premier League titles in four years. However, in the summer of 2022, Sterling made the call to leave the club in favour of rivals Chelsea. The move had come as a shock to fans despite the awareness that the winger demanded more playing time and it has now been revealed that there had been issues between Guardiola and the Englishman which may have caused the move to come to fruition.

Author Marti Perarnau, a confidant of Guardiola, has now revealed in his new book 'The Pep Revolution', that Sterling and Guardiola had a bust-up in March of 2021 in the Spaniard's office before the winger walked out of the conversation which caused the City boss to drop him altogether from the squad for a clash against Fulham. The furious encounter had started initially after Sterling was benched for Manchester City's 5-2 win over Southampton. The Englishman had been offended by Guardiola's decision and had begun acting up.

Perarnau has also revealed that part of Sterling's frustrations had also been due to Guardiola's constant praise of Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva, who had been in top form for the club. This, together with his drop to the bench for the win over the Saints, had boiled over the frustrations which triggered the bust-up and possibly even the eventual departure from Man City for Sterling.

The two have not seemed to have kept any animosity towards each other over the last two years since Sterling's departure to Chelsea. Regardless, the two will face each other once again on Sunday, August 18 at Stamford Bridge in an attempt to gather their first points of the season.